Kathe Van Hoften – First Team Real Estate

If I could give Kathe 1000 stars, I would do it… If you’re looking for someone who goes beyond the call of duty, then look no further… words cannot express how happy I am that I hired her. My mom passed away in July and I made the decision to sell her house and this was one of the hardest things I have ever done for many reasons. Kathe was like a family member, her kindness, thoughtfulness and support in addition to her knowledge of the marketplace, savvy marketing ability was way beyond anything I could have ever asked for. She thinks out of the box, she takes care of business without having to be asked. She managed the property, as I live out of town, she walked me through every step of the way and I will miss not talking to her everyday. I could go on and on but I will only say that Kathe is one of the most honest people, amazing at what she does and just plain lovely and I’m happy to call her a friend.

Kathe is amazing — we are just an «average family from orange county» that wanted to sell their home ASAP — and she got an offer within 1 day being on the market — but she is also such a sweet caring person — that really cares — I wouldn’t ask for anything else when it comes to an real estate agent — whoever works with her in the future are very lucky people

My boyfriend and I were looking for a leasing agent to help us find a home to rent in California and we were referred to Sakina. We were honestly blown away by how flexible she was with us and how simple she made the whole crazy process. She was very easy to keep in touch with, and answered all of my many questions very quickly. We even changed areas and ventured much further out than Orange County and she still found us the perfect home and spent hours driving and showing us places. She asked all the right questions and was extremely informative. We found an amazing home that we’re incredibly happy with and would recommend Sakina to anyone looking to rent without a single hesitation.

We faced some unique challenges when selling our home and Kathe helped us through them with both patience and professionalism. Would definitely use her again and would have no problem referring her to anyone in need of a top notch realtor.

I have known Kathe personally and professionally for many years, in addition to being a great person she is truly a Real Estate Professional and I am confident she will exceed your expectations.

Can’t say enough about Kathe. She helped us buy one of our properties in 2009 and just helped us sell it to the toughest buyers we’ve ever dealt with. She went above and beyond working diligently behind the scenes to keep the buyers happy and ensure the deal doesn’t fall through. Her advise and guidance through the entire process was invaluable. We love working with her so much that we just retained her again to help us buy our next property. Highly recommend her to anyone looking for a competent, reliable and hard working realtor in Orange County.

I found Kathe through Unilocal after reading some of her amazing reviews. She far exceeded our expectations. We met with several other realtors before hiring Kathe. They all estimated our house at a low value hoping for a quick sale (and commission of course). Upon our initial visit she came well prepared and told us what she thought our home was worth. It was right on target with our own research. She gave us some «to-​do» items and offered light staging. All her ideas were amazing and DEFINITELY helped our home sell. She mentioned at our first visit that she may even have a potential buyer for our home! The day our house was ready for MLS photos she had those potential buyers come over and take a look. They made an offer that day at almost full ask! We never even had to hold an open house. AMAZING. Our home closed approx 30 days later and she even helped us find a rental while we looked for our next home to purchase. We are happy as clams in our rental and even made MORE than we expected from our house sale. Kathe’s slogan is «a realtor with a heart», she certainly is — plus so much more!

I wanted to share the fabulous experience I had working with Kathe Van Hoften at First Team. I purchased a bank owned condo in Laguna Hills which came with all the difficulties of working with a lender owned property. Kathe guided me through the entire process and negotiated a terrific deal with the bank. She worked very hard at getting our offer approved. A short time later I was responsible for selling a realitives home in Anaheim, another smooth transaction with superb results. Kathe is amazing and I can’t recommend her highly enough!

Having worked with Kathe for years as her escrow officer, I can honestly say that she is not only an amazing, professional agent with attention to detail, but even more important, she truly cares about her clients. Kathe goes above and beyond to make certain that every aspect of her transactions are followed through. Her goal is to make one of the most stressful times in a persons life almost seemless and stress free and she does so with flying colors! I would have no hesitation reccommending her as an agent as I know she will go above and beyond to take care of her clients.

Where do I begin! If you are looking for a realtor that will stand by you through everything, a realtor who is genuine and honest, a realtor that will negotiate the heck out of the deal for you, a realtor that responds to you quickly and happily before, during and after the papers are signed, then PLEASE hire Kathe. She is amazing. We have worked with other realtors in the past and felt like crying through the whole process. We found Kathe on Unilocal and she lived up to her reputation. She really went above in beyond for us and has restored our faith in realtors, well at least this one!

I have been a Broker Associate in another state for over 20 years and had need of real estate services in Orange Cty, CA. Kathe van Hoften was very helpful in assisting us out-​of-​area owners to assess the value of our condo, locate service people to prepare it for sale, secure multiple offers, negotiate the best offer successfully and have a smooth escrow closing on time. She put in a lot of hours and was always patient and responsive, never losing site of our goals and best interests. I would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone for excellent knowledge and service in the Orange County area.

Kathe is amazing. She helped me by my first condo and I would recommend her to anyone. In fact, a couple of my friends have also worked with her. Kathe came fully prepared… she created a binder with all of the properties I asked to see. After each visit, she organized the binder with notes on which ones I liked and didn’t like. There was on one floor plan that I absolutely loved. When we got outbid, Kathe continued to search in the area and ultimately found another property with the exact same floor plan. It was a short sale and the process was tough, but she kept me in the loop the entire time and pushed hard on the other agent to close the deal. Ultimately, we got the property and I have been loving my place ever since. I will DEFINITELY use Kathe again. Thanks so much for all your help Kathe!

Kathe is an amazing real estate agent! She is patient and understanding and always delivers with results! She found my family and me our amazing dream home. I would never use another agent! I would recommend her to anyone!

Kathe did an excellent job helping our family find a home. She was able to get us good information on the area we wanted to buy in and then come up with a solid strategy to negotiate the best deal possible for us. We will definitely look forward to using Kathe again when it comes time to get our next place!

Kathe was an amazing agent throughout my entire real estate process. Kathe was always there to answer questions and provide advice. Kathe made a very difficult process seem very easy!

Kathe is an amazing real estate agent and a wonderful person. My husband and I used her to buy a condo 3 years ago, sell our condo a couple months ago, and buy a new home which closed escrow last week.
I would never use another agent! She truly cares about her clients and makes sure you find a home that fits what you want. This is so important, because I have heard other agents will try to pressure you into buying something just so they can get the sale faster.
In addition, Kathe goes the extra mile for you. When we sold our place she staged it for free, paid extra for additional advertisements for it, got in professionally photographed, etc.
When we were looking for our latest place –and having trouble finding one as this is currently a sellers market– she went door to door and even passed out fliers in neighborhoods we liked.
Finally, her pleasant nature ultimately got us our house. When we bid on this house there were 11 other offers on it and we got it –even though we bid less than some of the offers– because their agent liked Kathe and thought it would be a pleasure to work with her.
I recommend her to anyone.

I bought my first house last year and i’m SO thankful that Kathe was there to guide me along every step of the way. Her knowledge and negotiating skills are priceless… and she’s such a pleasure to work with. I will absolutely be calling her anytime i have to buy or sell in the future.
–Andrew W.
CEO,

Kathe is awesome! She has helped us rent out our condo, buy our new house and then sell our condo! She spent countless hours (in the middle of the night and on vacation) helping us find the right place for our family. Kathe is dedicated to her job and will make sure the process runs smoothly and (hopefully) quickly!
Kathe is very knowledgeable in the field and is honest. I would recommend Kathe to anyone who needs assistants with buying or selling. We will definitely work with Kathe again when we are ready for our next purchase!

I was so fortunate to get Kathe’s flier exactly when I was considering selling it. I called her and we scheduled an interview. Kathe’s office is in Mission Viejo but it turns out she lives only a few minutes away from my property.
We saw eye to eye on every subject and I listened to her professional suggestions. She was the Realtor for me. We listed my property for way over the last comp sale price because of the unit location, move-​in condition, and this was not a short-​sale or a sale under duress like so many others. Other realtors thought we were crazy to ask such a price. The result was 8 offers in 3 days. 5 of those offers were over our asking price! A few were ridiculous low-​ball cash offers from investors.
Kathe professionally negotiated every step of the way and always had my best interest in mind and took no short cuts.
I highly recommend Kathe van Hoften as your real estate professional. You will be glad you did. I wish I could rate her with 6 stars